Haught & Bothered: Haught Brothers Book 3

by Leela Lou Dahlin

  “Let me in True.” His deep voice touched things in her body that she didn’t think anyone would understand. She backed up and allowed him to come in.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here for the celebration.” He walked to the dining room and placed the flowers on the table while True trailed behind him. She put her face into the bouquet and inhaled deeply.

  “There isn’t one,” she said between deep breaths.

  “Every year on June 6th you get sad about your left day.”

  True stood up so fast she got a little dizzy. “What?”

  “Once when I was sick you came over, fed me soup and I asked you not to leave. Do you remember that?”

  She frowned at him like he’d lost his mind. Of course she remembered that. He’d been 21 to her 18 and when she’d heard he wasn’t feeling well, an oddity that didn’t happen often she’d scoured up the best chicken noodle soup recipe she could find and brought it over. True had been expecting to see another woman taking care of him since he had a girlfriend, that would soon be his fiancé. “Yes. I remember.”

  “I was sick out of my mind that night. I had a fever and the dreams were mixing with reality. It was a crazy night, but when you showed up I actually felt better. I ate your soup and asked you to keep talking to me because your voice was like honey.” Alec smiled and she was transported back to that time and how much she wanted to cover his body with hers like honey, but she was just happy to be there.

  “Okay.”

  “Sometime in the night you were talking about the day you were left. You’d not known the date if not for your foster mother, but you said it bothered you every year.” He walked over to True and took her hand. “Since then I noticed that on that day you tend to keep yourself really busy, but not this year.”

  True broke away from him. She wasn’t going to cry. That was a personal, alone time activity that she didn’t want witnessed by anyone. Clearing her throat. “That was a wonderful story, Alec, thank you for thinking of me.” She turned to walk to the door and he caught her arm.

  “Look, I get that you’re trying to rid your world of me and apparently the rest of the Haughts but we’re your family. You said the problem was I didn’t know you and I said you’re wrong.”

  True turned toward him. “Why are you doing this now? I’ve twisted myself up like a pretzel for years to get your attention with not much luck and here you are with all of this. Why?”

  “Maybe you’ve opened my eyes. You know how you have all this thick, pretty curly hair that everyone wants to touch?”

  “Yes, although I hate when people don’t at least ask first.” True said, thinking of all the times she wanted to take a karate class to chop the arms of the people who reach her kinky, curly locs before even saying hello.

  “I know, but now think about the time you straightened your hair. It was long and very pretty, but you missed your thick, curly mane. Right?”

  “You must owe some big favors to people for researching all that. You weren’t even talking to me when that happened and I never told anyone that anyway.” True crossed her arms in front of herself.

  “You didn’t need to tell me you weren’t happy with it. I could see it on your face and in the way you touched it yourself.”

  “Is that why you told me I was beautiful a few weeks after I got it? It was the first time you said anything about my appearance at all.”

  “I wanted you to know that your hair didn’t make or break you. Your beauty is in everything you did, how you care about people and your big voice…that’s usually telling people what to do.” Alec chuckled and True looked up to see him watching her. “I said all that to say that sometimes people think they know a fact about themselves that may not be true, but they don’t know how much they enjoy and cherish the thing that is now gone.”

  “So you only miss me because I left you?”

  “No. I miss you because you’re no longer around and I didn’t know how much I enjoyed your company and how often we were together.” He held out a bag to her and waited for her to take it.

  She took the bag and opened it up. It was a puzzle piece that had what looked like two sets of numbers. “What is this?”

  “I think it’s a clue.” Alec stood against the doorway with a smile on his face. The jagged line that ran from his temple to his chin dissecting his eye and lip were just accessories on his face that she’d grown used to like freckles or a crooked nose.

  “A clue? Alec I didn’t plan to go anywhere today and you have to work tonight.”

  “I don’t plan to let you stay in this house and mope. You said I didn’t know you and I want a chance to prove you wrong. We can get to what that means later because I know your stubborn ass doesn’t really want to admit that you were wrong, but I mean to make you say it.” Alec reached for her hand and pulled her to the bottom of her steps. “Also, I took off work tonight. I’m not assuming anything is going to happen, I just didn’t want to be restricted and have to limit how long we can stay at the place I planned for us.”

  True stood at the bottom of the steps unsure of what to do.

  “Go on and change your clothes.” Alec goaded her up the stairs.

  “I don’t even know what to put on.”

  “Just be comfortable. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  *****

  Three hours later they turned onto a mountainous trail that looked like they were paving a new path.

  “It’s a good thing you have a four by four or we wouldn’t have ever been able to come up here.” True held on to the bar beside the window and hung on for the ride. She looked at the coordinates and the reader Alec had let her hold. “It looks like it’s a little to the right.”

  The man hadn’t looked at the reader he’d given to her and he hadn’t asked for any directions either. She knew the gadget was for her and although she wasn’t ready to concede that he did indeed know her, she was pleased that he’d taken so much thought and time to plan this out. She was truly touched by this rare display.

  He stopped the car, hopped out and then walked over to her door watching her the whole time. There was something sexy about him. There always had been, but the deliberate intensity of his gaze made her breath catch. This is what she feared she’d never find with anyone else and the deliciousness of his gaze on her was addictive. It made her feel powerful, beautiful and…wanted.

  When the door opened and she stepped out and looked around. He’d stopped in the middle of what looked like a forest.

  “So what now?”

  Alec stood with his hands in his pockets with his poker face in full for a few seconds, but then reached into his pocket and pulled out a blindfold. “Do you trust me?”

  That question took her back a bit. “Of course I do.”

  He smiled that lopsided grin he used when he was happy, but trying to hold it back and it made her smile too.

  “I know you do, but I wanted to hear it.”

  Turning to him she was almost at a loss for words and for her that was saying something. “The all powerful Alec Haught is sharing his feelings?”

  “Ha. This coming from Ms. Emotional Lockdown herself?” He used his finger and motioned for her to spin around.

  True put her hands on her hips, wanting to dispute what he’d said to her, because that couldn’t be a correct assessment about her.

  “I brought you here to make your day not to argue.” He nuzzled her forehead with his lips before placing a soft kiss there. “Turn around True so I can wow you.”

  She turned around and closed her eyes. “That’s what she said.”

  There was something about being blindfolded in the middle of the forest. He led her away and her other senses picked up. The twigs and leaves rustled under her feet and she could hear birds. It was an uneven trek, but she knew Alec wouldn’t let her fall. She was led somewhere that was shaded more than where they’d been and she couldn’t wait to see where he was taking her.

  “Are you ready?�
��

  True nodded because she was way too excited to speak.

  He moved behind her and undid the blindfold lowering it slowly. “Open your eyes.”

  What she saw when she opened them she couldn’t believe what she saw. “Are those cherry blossoms?” She turned to look at Alec and saw pride all over his face.

  He moved away from her and walked toward a pair of coolers. Alec opened one of them and brought out a bag and walked back to her opening it up. “This is for you. You can change behind the blossoms.”

  “So you’re going to act like you’ve not touched and tasted each and every inch of my skin, Mr. Haught?” True had no idea why she challenged him. It was from years and years of conditioning. The words just popped out of her mouth.

  She watched him put his hand up to his lip and stroke it slightly. He was contemplating something. He always did that move when he ran something over in his mind. Alec bent his head down slightly and walked toward her with a predatory gleam in his eyes. That shouldn’t make her tingle but the shiver that came with it echoed off the trees. True stood still while he walked her.

  “Are you cold?”

  She shook her head and was determined not to make a sound.

  “I can assure you that I am aware of what you feel and taste like. I know the flavor of your skin and the sweetness of your kiss, but what I don’t know is where your mind is in terms of what we are doing and how you feel about me.” He stood behind her but wrapped his arm around her so she could see he held a bag in his hand.

  “What’s this?”

  “Something for you to wear when we swim in this hot spring.” His mouth was so close to her ear she leaned over so it would touch her skin.

  “I would have thought you’d want to go skinny dipping, but now that I think about it you always did like to unwrap your presents.” True turned so she could look at him as she backed up and whipped her shirt off and threw it to the ground. Watching him watch her was the best feeling ever. It always had been, and it probably always will be.

  “Are you calling yourself my present?”

  She moved behind the large potted plants she assumed he arranged to be up there. The aroma was amazing as was the fact that he’d done all of this. Stripping down quickly she looked in the bag and took out a peach bikini with very little material. “What happened to all the material?”

  “It will cover all the naughty bits,” he said as she heard a splash. “Just put it on and come on in. The water feels great.”

  “You are aware I’m not a small woman. Right?” True knew what she had and she worked the hell out of it, but there were times her confidence would falter. For whatever reason this was one of those times.

  “Are you the same woman who reminded me that I’ve seen and tasted each and every part of your body?”

  Thank heaven there were no mirrors because she didn’t think she would have worked up the bravado to walk the few yards to the water. She picked up her head and walked out from behind the shrubs not wanting to look like she was running but she was walking pretty fast.

  “Whoa…whoa…whoa.” Alec’s tone was low and husky so she stopped and let him see the outfit he’d bought her. “That looks even better than I imagined, but how do you feel in it?”

  “Naked but I like the way you look at me in it.” She sat on the edge and dangled her feet in the water.

  The splashing stopped and she looked over to where he was standing. “That’s quite a confession coming from you.”

  “You must be mistaken, I say what’s on my mind at all times. That is my freaking claim to fame.”

  He walked close to her and held his arms out. She jumped into them.

  “Yes. Your claim to fame is you’re mouthy and bossy, but you don’t talk about how you feel much and you never bring it up to me.”

  She locked her feet around his back and watched him. “You’re just saying all this because I said you don’t know me.”

  He walked around the water carrying True and she felt weightless in the water. “I’m not going to even speak on that subject and the ridiculousness of it all, but I feel like you’re coming to terms with some things and I want to be here while you work them out.”

  “So this bathing suit?”

  “Is for a couple of reasons. The first reason is I love looking at you in the color peach and the second is that I love it when you’re shy. It’s so endearing.”

  The warm water and their hushed tones made her feel too much…desire, love, need. It was the last one that made her crazy. She was an ex foster child that was only allowed to be a part of this wonderful Haught family, and just like the child that she was it crosses her mind that there may be a time when she’d obsolete. True leaned back in the water getting her big, curly hair wet and floating while she was locked on to Alec.

  “I’ve known you since I was seven and you were eleven. You were one of the first people I met after I was settled in my last foster home.” The warm water lapping at her made her want to open up, but it was a terrifying feeling and she didn’t know what to say next.

  “You walked up to me and said, ‘Sorry about your face.’”

  True opened her eyes, put her hand over her mouth and looked at Alec as she recalled the memory of that day. She moved her hand a little so he could hear her. “Alec I’m sorry.”

  “Wait I wasn’t done,” Alec smiled and pulled her hand away from her mouth as he squinted off into the distance. “I was sitting on the floor playing with something when you plopped down next to me and stared. My grandparents and my brothers…hell everyone we knew ignored the fact I had a large scar running the entire length of my face, went through my eye and lip so well that there were times I wondered if only I could see it.” Alec chuckled softly and then pulled her back to a sitting position. “Do you remember what happened next?”

  “Do I remember what happened next?” True tried not to screech in this partially enclosed area because of the echoes, but she didn’t quite keep it together.

  “That’s what I asked.” The smirk on his face let her know that he definitely recalled.

  She placed her hands on his shoulders to lift herself higher and kissed the area where the scar could first be seen at his hairline and worked her way down. His eye, the area by his nose, his lips and his chin all were granted small kisses. “That’s what I did and I was pulled away from you so fast I got dizzy.”

  “I was startled and intrigued by this little girl with big hair, deep brown eyes and take charge persona. I knew from that moment on you were going to be trouble…big…Big trouble.”

  “It wasn’t that bad.” True tried to look at it from his perspective and thought it may have been worse than she thought.

  “You were Beau’s best friend and later added Karessa to the mix. You were always around and so hard to resist. When you were under eighteen it wasn’t as difficult to tell you no but when you came of age you started hitting harder.”

  Listening to this didn’t feel like they were telling the same story. “Alec, I think you are lying up a storm. You didn’t notice anything I did except for the one time we almost got together on my twenty first birthday and seven months ago when you showed up at my house after Gemmi’s bachelorette party. Plus, I never asked you anything for you to tell me no. So there’s that.”

  “You didn’t ask me anything with your mouth, but your hungry eyes did me in every damn time.” He quirked up one brow when she nodded at him. “So you think I didn’t see you at all and then all of the sudden we had this wild torrid affair.”

  “That’s what it felt like yes.”

  “I felt like you were on a campaign to make me crazy and the more you did it the more I tried to find my pleasure somewhere else.”

  True pushed at him as she untangled her legs from him and moved away.

  “Now, now. That was a long time ago.” He took a few steps toward her and she moved a little bit out of his reach.

  “It wasn’t that long ago.”

  “Look, I didn
’t bring you here to piss you off. I just wanted to give you a fantasy you talked about once. You may not even remember it.” Alec swam further from the bank, but kept his eyes on True.

  “Is this a sexual fantasy?”

  “No, it wasn’t, you were young and you weren’t even talking to me.” Alec walked further away from True deeper into the water.

  True looked around at the surroundings and assessed the added foliage and the warm water. “Are you talking about the time we went swimming at the local pool because Beau wanted to see this girl from our high school there? You’d come along as well with some chick and I grumbled the whole day.”

  “That’s the day. You described a place you’d like to wade in the water, it would be warm with the smell of cherry blossoms in the air.”

  True shook her head at that one. How could he know so much about her in some instances, but know so little in others. “I remember that water in the pool being so freaking cold. I knew warm water would be especially lovely and I was right. Thank you for this. It’s very special.”

  “You’re very welcome.” There was nothing but the sound of bodies moving in water for a good while, but True was never very good with silence, especially with Alec.

  “I’m working on what I want to do next with my life, but I think I was too quick to dismiss our physical association.” True moved toward him in the water.

  Alec smiled and shook his head slightly. “That’s not you thinking logically, True, that’s you thinking of how much pleasure we give each other.”

  “Tell me you don’t think about that each and every time we see each other.” True took a step closer.

  He didn’t say a word but continued to look at her with a vague look of caution.

  “Are you saying no?” she asked moving closer.

  He watched her approach cautiously and she couldn’t read his expression. “I’m not saying anything.”

  “I know I am acting flaky and I know that it’s not really like me.”

  He moved toward her and pulled her into his arms. “Things are changing and we’re both trying to adjust. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”